


What are Pumpkins?

by LieutenantCharlesLorem



Category: Star Trek: Deep Space Nine
Genre: Friendship, Halloween, Pumpkin carving, Trick or Treating, halloween party, soft
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-10-26
Updated: 2020-10-26
Packaged: 2021-03-09 06:34:31
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 3,136
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27209701
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LieutenantCharlesLorem/pseuds/LieutenantCharlesLorem
Summary: When Garak asks what Halloween is, he ends up getting roped into a get together to carve pumpkins. Maybe it's more fun that he expected.Some softness between Garak and Bashir, but nothing happens so could be read as friendship.
Relationships: Julian Bashir & Elim Garak, Julian Bashir/Elim Garak
Comments: 8
Kudos: 38





	What are Pumpkins?

**Author's Note:**

> I apologize for any mistakes, I've been trying to get this up sooner rather than later.

Garak sat down across from Dr. Bashir delicately, and placed his napkin in the neck of his shirt as he always did. They had opted for Quarks today as the replicators in the replimat had been acting up.

“Apologies for my lateness, Doctor. I was absorbed in a project.”

“Not at all, Garak, I’m afraid I’ve only been here a few minutes myself.”

They sat in silence for a moment, Garak taking a sip of water, and Julian putting some sort of sauce on his sandwich.

After a long pause Garak asked, “Doctor, what is Halloween?”

“Halloween?” The doctor asked almost incredulously.

“If its something private to humans forget I asked—”

“Oh, no, it’s not private at all. I was just surprised you want to know about such things.”

“I don’t even know if I want to know. I know nothing about it. Only that I am making a tail for Molly for Halloween. Normally I would have asked Mrs. O'Brien. She doesn’t mind a chat. But as her husband was with her, I assumed he wouldn’t want to sit through a long explanation.”

“I don’t think the chief’ould minded. It’s a holiday.”

“See, if it is sacred I would understand not wanting to share—”

“It’s not sacred at all. … Well, maybe it depends on your definition or sacred,” Bashir said with a smile. “Some people enjoy taking it very seriously.”

“It’s patriotic then?”

“No. Well no more than any other holiday from one’s own culture. It’s… spooky.”

“Spooky? If memory serve that’s your soft word for scary, correct. Almost playful?”

“Yeah, and that describes the holiday pretty well too.”

“So it is a holiday that is scary… but in a… fun way?”

“Exactly, couldn’t have put it better myself.”

“That sounds like something Klingons would come up with.”

“Not that kind of scary. I don’t think Klingons would even say the word spooky, probably think its undignified.”

“Right… I still have no idea what Halloween is.”

“Ugh, Garak.”

“Well, Doctor, you must admit you haven’t exactly painted me a picture.”

“Okay, okay, so I don’t know if anything I’m about to say is true—”

“What?”

“I’d have to ask the computer, but what I remember is 2 separate things that could just both be myths, but they were that people wanted to celebrate the people who had died that year so everyone went around to the families of people who’d died and exchanged gifts with them. The other thing is this idea that maybe people believed this was a night spirits were able to come to the tangible world, but if we all dressed like we were as scary as them… maybe they’d think we were one of them and leave us alone?”

“O…Kay….”

“But then as things do, it grows and changes, gets taken over by different people, and becomes this very secular cross culture holiday, where children and sometimes adults go around in costumes and knock on people’s doors. They say trick or treat, and the person gives them food or toys.”

“Trick or treat?”

“Yes, it used to mean that if the kids didn’t get something they would do something mean like scare the homeowner, or throw eggs at the house.”

“My goodness.”

“But nobody does that anymore. I think the last time something like that happened was something like 50 years ago when a bunch of teenagers replicated exorbitant amounts of toilet paper and covered the president’s house in it. Of course the president of the Federation was human at the time—” Garak nodded. “And if I remember correctly he wasn’t particularly angry. Just said something like, anyone who wanted to was welcome to take some of it home to recycle through their replicators.”

“So… Give me a treat… or get tricked?”

“Exactly.”

“Forgive me if this is a cynical question… but why provide the treats? Also what constitutes a treat?”

“Well, like I said I believe the tradition changed over time, probably having been more personal in the past, but why we still do is probably not just tradition but remembered tradition, childhood joy, you know? When you’re a kid, you go trick-or-treating, and then you start to get a little older, and even if you’re still going you might go later than you used to and you start opening the door to your house for the little kids who’s parents take them just before dark. And they’re sweet and cute, and you develop these 2 types of fond memories. And you do it as long as you can, and then you grow up, and you don’t think, why should I do this for other people? –you think, oh I can’t wait to see the little kids this year.”

“It sounds like you really like Halloween.”

“Eh… Do I? Maybe it’s just easy to wax poetic when you’re far from home. I haven’t celebrated Halloween since I was at the academy.”

“Cadets still trick-or-treat?”

“Ahaha, no, no at that age it’s usually big parties and bad hangovers.”

“I see…”

“Oh, but San Francisco does do the Spook Parade every year, and that’s what I usually did with Erit. There would be stalls, food and drink, a pumpkin carving contest, not to mention the thousands of people walking down the street dressed as zombies and ghosts and all manner of spooks.”

“That sounds like quite a gathering. If we did things like that on Cardassia one could certainly disappear into a crowd…”

“There’s a lot of commotion. I don’t know how much a spy could learn about anyone at a Halloween party.”

“What ever do you mean? I certainly wasn’t suggesting someone go on some sort of reconnaissance mission dressed as a ghost. I was merely observing that it sounds like bigger crowds than Cardassians are used to.”

“Of course.”

“Now, what was this you said about carving _pumpkins_?”

“You cut faces into them.”

“But… what’s a pumpkin?”

“It’s like, a gord. Like Bajoran spice yams.”

“… Ah, and you use them to make sculptures…”

“Sort of…”

“Why?”

“It’s spooky. And I don’t know, it’s fun.” Garak didn’t look convinced. “Jake,” Julian, said as he saw Jake walking by, “Tell Garak it’s fun to carve pumpkins.”

Jake stopped. “I haven’t carved pumpkins in ages! When are you doing it?” he asked leaning over and putting his elbows on their table.

“Oh, we weren’t actually planning on anything,” replied Bashir.

“Yes,” said Garak, “I would prefer not to be covered in yams.”

“Aw, but that’s half the fun,” said Jake.

The Chief and Dax walked down the steps from the upper level. Garak and Bashir weren’t sitting far from the stairs and they could hear, “What do you mean, off?”

“I don’t know, it just taste a little off,” replied Dax.

The chief sighed. “I’ll look at it tomorrow.”

“You know,” said Bashir, refocusing them, “Maybe we could make Jack O’ Lanterns together.”

“Did someone say something about Jack O’ Lanterns?” asked O’Brien. “You know my people invented pumpkin carving.”

“I see,” said Garak skeptically. He had heard many humans claim their ancestors did important things. He never understood why, wasn’t it enough that humans did it?

“That’s not just bluster,” said the doctor, seeing the look on Garak’s. “Pretty sure the Irish did start the tradition, but there were a lot of Irish immigrants in America.”

“You realize I don’t know what those words mean.”

“Uh… People who talk like Miles moved to where people talk like Jake.” Garak smiled cheekily, knowing Bashir was really dumbing it down for him. “And, back in the midst of capitalism, where Sisko lived had a lot of social influence, and if they were doing something fun, everyone wanted to do it.”

“What about where you’re from?”

“Well, I’ve heard Britain was a little late on the Halloween bandwagon, but by the time I was born not celebrating Halloween was sacrilege.”

“You said it wasn’t sacred.”

“You know what I mean.”

“It’d be cool to carve some pumpkins,” said Jake. “Not a lot of human activities on the station.”

“Oo! If you’re doing it, I want to come,” said Dax. “I like digging out the guts.”

“We could do it on Halloween, since it’s this weekend,” said Jake.

“Your quarters?” Jadzia asked Julian.

“My quarters? Yes, alright. What do you say, Garak?”

Garak paused. “I have no desire to get my hands dirty.”

“Wear gloves then,” said Jake cheerily as though Garak wasn’t just trying to get out of it.

“Yeah, Gar’ or we can do fake ones,” said Jadzia. Julian knew they didn’t care one way or the other if he came. They must’ve just been pushing him for Julian’s sake.

Or perhaps it was just worth it for the look on Garak’s face at the sound of Jadzia shortening his name. He stared at her incredulously, and she stared back, daring him to make a fuss over how she’d addressed him.

Finally he sighed and said, “Oh, well, if you insist.”

“Well if you all are havin’ a little Halloween party,” said O’Brien, “I’m bringing the kids by to trick or treat.”

“Oh, yeah, my dad has been working on some chocolate recipe of my grandpa’s,” said Jake.

“Ah, he’s gonna get the kids all sugared up.”

“I’ll do something non-edible,” said the doctor.

“Thanks, Julian,” O’Brien said patting Julian on the back. He started to walk away and Dax followed.

“Wait, Chief, also the circuits in the…”

They couldn’t hear anymore as they walked out of earshot.

When Garak showed up to Bashir’s quarters Halloween night, Dax and Jake were already there. He felt like he should have arrived earlier. But the good doctor seemed like he thought everything was going perfectly.

“Come in, come in!” He rushed.

_‘He’s had sweets,’_ Garak thought, as he watched Julian bounce up and down happily. He was relived to see that he had been right in his assumption about the dress code, which was simply _spooky_ and not full uncomfortable costumes just to sit around in Bashir’s quarters. Jake was wearing a hideous orange tunic with a little black pumpkin pattern, Jadzia looked comfy in a loose black dress with a spiderweb print, and Bashir’s long-sleeved turtleneck had the outline of bones.

Garak didn’t have access to anything so kitschy, so he’d worn a normal red outfit but added a black cape. It actually kept him warmer than usual, so it was no inconvenience.

Julian had moved his table away from the wall so they could sit on all sides. It wasn’t as big as Sisko’s but it would fit the 4 of them.

“Well don’t you two look festive?” Garak said as he sat down across from Dax and Jake, trying to be polite.

Julian had disappeared somewhere, but suddenly he was back and pouring everyone a drink.

“It’s black,” said Jake.

“It’s witches _brew_ ,” said Julian as though it was the scariest thing in the alpha quadrant.

Jadzia to a sip. “It’s wine.”

“Oh, I shouldn’t…” Jake said sniffing his glass and then taking a taste. “Oh, it’s root beer.”

Garak tilted his glass of black liquid and saw it was a bit more viscous than the others. “Kanar?” he asked. Julian nodded as he placed a large pumpkin down on the table.

“So,” he said, “I ordered these from earth, they’re the genuine article. I also got some gourds from Bajor. And I replicated these little foam ones, so they have no guts, and if we wanted to keep them forever we could, or we can just throw them back in the replicator.”

“I’ll take a gourd,” said Jake, pulling a bright red fruit toward himself.

Julian grabbed him a bowl. “Save your guts,” he told him. “The major wants to make some sort of face mask with it.”

“What?” said Jadzia, “she hates that kind of stuff.”

“I don’t know, she only told me Bajorans think it’s good for the skin.”

Jadzia looked a little annoyed, but she let it go and started pulling the largest pumpkin over to her. “I’m gonna take this big boy.”

“How do you know it’s a boy?” Garak said with a practiced innocence.

“Because I decided he is, and gourds don’t seem to mind what gender you tell them they are. Not like cats.”

They stared at her for a moment waiting for further explanation, but she just picked up a knife and started cutting into the top.

Julian continued to get a few things as they started to work: different shaped knives, cookies shaped like bats, cheese and crackers.

He placed a little plate of chocolate next to Garak when he realized Garak wasn’t working.

“Garak, aren’t you going to carve a pumpkin?”

“That’s alright, I don’t want to take from anyone else.”

“Garak, that’s why you’re here. There’s plenty of pumpkins. Too many, in fact.”

“I don’t want to make a mess.”

“Use a foam one.”

“Well, it’s not entirely free of mess, is it? I—”

“Alright, we all know that you think this is silly, but just try to have fun, will you? Here, we’ll use this foam one,” Julian said, sitting close to Garak and pulling over a glitter covered fake pumpkin about the size of a basketball.

“I’ll do this eye,” he continued, “And you do that one.”

He started cutting into the pumpkin, and Garak felt as though he’d been left with no choice so he acquiesced and picked up a knife. He hadn’t been expecting that they would work on one together, and he tried desperately to hide his smile. They had to be close to work on the same pumpkin, so as they carved, their arms sat against each other. It was warm.

Sitting with the lights dimmed to see the glow from their pumpkins, Garak had to admit he was enjoying himself a bit more than 16:00 hours and one glass of Kanar would usually allow. Julian was just explaining what the _Monster Mash_ was when there was a beep at the door.

“Yes?” Julian replied.

The sound of children singing, “Trick or treat!” came through the com.

Julian got up, a stack of something in his hand, and went to the door. Garak decided to follow.

“Happy Halloween!” Julian shouted as he opened the door. “Now what might you be?” he asked Molly.

There were 5 children standing at his feet, one other human besides Molly, two Bajorans and a Bolian. Miles stood next to them holding a tiny Kirayoshi in a bee costume.

“I’m a cat,” said Molly. “Look,” she turned around, “Mr. Garak made my tail stand up!” Garak smiled.

“That’s amazing, and what about the rest of you?” Julian asked. He looked to the Bolian.

“I’m a bizchin!” Julian believed that was a Bolian bearlike creature, but he wasn’t sure. The boy was covered in fake fur though.

“I’m a princess,” said the other human.

“What about you?” Julian asked a Bajoran in all black who seemed to be wearing red contacts.

“I’m a Pah Wraith,” he said shyly.

“Spooky,” said Garak. “And you?” he asked the other Bajoran.

The child seemed very embarrassed. His face was covered in gray make up and he seemed to have drawn some squares on his face but it was difficult to tell as they were smudged.

“Uh… Molly said that you… be something that scares you…”

“And what’s that?” asked Julian.

The child mumbled something.

“What did you say?” asked Garak, kneeling so he could get a better look at the boy.

“I’m a Cardassian…”

Julian winced. He looked at Garak, hoping this wasn’t going to start something.

“Excellent choice,” said Garak. “Your costume is quite scary. You remind me of some legates I know. Downright terrifying.”

The Bajoran smiled. “Thanks,” he said. “I’m not afraid of you.”

“Oh, no?”

“No, you’re just a tailor.”

“That’s right, just a tailor.”

“So,” said Julian, “Would any of you like a coloring book?”

They all nodded, and he handed them each one.

“Don’t worry, I’ve got something for you too, Yoshi,” said the doctor lifting up a little ghost. “BoOoOo,” he said to him quietly. “Can you say boo?”

“Bbbbbbbb,” Yoshi imitated, taking the toy and gumming its head.

“Straight in the mouth,” said Miles, “Everything straight in his mouth.”

“It’s clean,” said Julian with a smile, “It’s a teether.”

“Thanks, Julian. Always thinkin, you.”

One of the Bajoran children was still looking at Garak. “I wouldn’t think a Cardassian would want to celebrate a _human_ holiday.”

Garak smiled. “I just like to have fun.”

“Me too,” said the Bolian.

“Come on, guys,” said Molly, “We still have to go to the Cap’in’s and he’ll have food,” said Molly.

“Alright,” said Miles, “Everyone say thank you to the Doctor and Mr. Garak, and let’s go.”

“Thank you, doctor, thank you, Garak,” came a mix of voices as they started to walk away.

“Happy Halloween,” said Molly, and everyone got the idea they should say it too.

“Happy Halloween, Dr. Bashir!”

“Happy Halloween, Garak!”

“Happy Halloween!” Garak called out after them. “…Such a charming group,” he said after the door had slid shut.

“You know you never mention how much you like children.”

“Like children? No more than any other age of humanoid.”

“You sure about that?” Julian asked joining the others in the living area. Jadzia had laid down on the couch and Jake had her feet in his lap so that he could fit on the couch too. The room was still only lit by Jack O’ Lanterns.

“I suppose I… like people whom the universe hasn’t ruined yet.” He glanced at him, and Julian could feel the underlying _like you_.

As much as Garak complained about Federation optimism, he did grow tired of people full of prejudice, jaded and beaten down. Julian, _and children_ were still fresh.

“I had too much root beer,” Jake admitted.

“May have overindulged as well,” said Jadzia, hiding her face in her elbow.

“Well, if everyone needs to head out and get some sleep—”

“I didn’t say that,” said Jadzia.

“Yeah…” said Jake quietly “You know it’s kinda nice having a relaxed Halloween.”

“Yeah, Curson went to some crazy Halloween parties, but it’s nice to just be… chill?”

“Well, if you’re sticking around, we could watch a Halloween film. I can probably get it up on the computer screen,” said Julian.

“Okay,” said Jadzia, sitting up to make room for him. Jake scooted over too.

Julian sat down on the couch, fiddling with a pad to find something to watch. He patted the empty space next to him.

“Sit down, Garak.”

With 4 people on the same couch they all had to sit quite close, but the doctor didn’t seem to mind.

“Doctor…”

“Yes, Garak?”

“Thanks for… showing me your rituals. For you know, including me.”

“You’re always welcome.”


End file.
